Hello, Sebastian,

The human brain is, at its core, an editing machine. It deletes the familiar to save energy. If you've ever driven a well-worn route, then arrived not really remembering how you got there, you'll know this feeling.

The same instinct runs the world of brands, ideas and people.

Whatever blends in vanishes. Whatever breaks the pattern sticks.

The good news is this can be engineered.

So here are seven ways you can use this to your advantage.

1. Own a colour

Cadbury fought for years to trademark a shade of purple. Coca-Cola's recognisable from its bottle in the dark. You don't have to be different. You have to be recognisable.

2. Split the room

Marmite's sold "love it or hate it" for decades, cheerfully waving away half its market. Trying to be liked by everyone is the surest way to be remembered by no one.

3. Admit the flaw

The Pratfall Effect: a visible weakness can make you more trusted, not less. Avis built a fortune on "We're only number two, so we try harder." Perfection is forgettable. A good flaw is sticky.

4. Invent a character

Comparethemarket sold price comparisons, the least lovable product on earth, then invented Aleksandr the meerkat and built an empire on him. A character gives people something to feel about a brand they'd otherwise scroll straight past.

5. Look wrong on purpose

Every water brand chased pure and serene. Liquid Death sold water in a tallboy can that looks like cheap lager, stamped "Murder Your Thirst" on the front, and it's now worth over a billion dollars. They didn't sell water. They sold the opposite of water marketing.

6. Break the pattern

Your brain bins the seven identical items on a shelf and fixes on the one that's wrong. (Psychologists call it the von Restorff effect.) In a deck, an inbox or a meeting, the pattern-break is the bit that survives.

7. Be weird, then be consistent

The catch most people miss: distinctiveness only compounds if you repeat it. Tony's Chocolonely splits its bar into deliberately unequal chunks, a protest about an unfair industry, and it's meant the same thing for years. Novelty that changes weekly is just noise. Choose your weird, then keep it.

Now make it personal

This works on people too. In a room full of rivals, the polished, identical version of you is the one that gets forgotten. One genuine, specific, slightly odd detail is what they'll actually remember.

So, what's the one thing you could own that nobody else can?

Big love and stay distinct,

Chris & the 42courses team x

p.s. We turn 10 this month. As a gift to you, pop the code 4224 in at checkout for 24% off. Our treat.